977.5465 
Sch97h 

AH-T.J..  SCHWEER-, 

HISTORY    OF   BEARDSTOM   AND 
AND    CASS   COUNTY 


L)Us) 


L  I  B  RAR.Y 

OF  THE 

U  NIVLRSITY 

Of    ILLINOIS 

977.3465 
Sch97h 


Illinois  Historical  Survey 


v.of  111.    Library 


HISTORY    OF 
BEARDSTOWN 

AND  CASS  COUNTY 


—BY- 
MRS.  T.  J.  SCHWEER 


1925 


Written  for  Use  as  a  Text  Book  in  the  Third  Grade 

Beardstown  Public  Schools 


HISTORY    OF 
BEARDSTOWN 

AND  CASS  COUNTY 


-BY- 
MRS.  T.  J.  SCHWEER 


1925 


Written  for  Use  as  a  Text  Book  in  the  Third  Grade 

Beardstown  Public  Schools 


Acknowledgments  are  due  Mr.  P.  C.  Croll  for  assistance  in  gathering  material  and  to 
Hon.  Henry  Shaw,  who  delivered  the  Fourth  of  July  oration  in  1876,  on  the  History  oi 
Beardstown.  rv  pc 


?^e 


J: 

CHAPTER  I 

Illinois  dates  its  white  settlements  among  the  first  in 
North  America.  Four  years  before  the  settlement  of  Ply- 
mouth, Le  Baron  had  explored  Upper  Canada,  and  twenty 
years  later  the  hardy  and  ambitious  French  voyageurs  and 
traders,  and  the  zealous  missionaries  had  erected  trading-posts 
and  missions  along  the  rivers  and  upon  the  lake  shores  of  the 
land  that  now  comprises  the  present  states  of  Illinois  and  Wis- 
consin. 

At  that  time  the  surface  of  Illinois  was  much  lower  than  it 
is  at  the  present  time,  and  our  early  settlers  of  two  hundred 
years  ago  navigated  the  Mississippi  and  Illinois  rivers  to  the 
Great  Lakes. 

Two  hundred  years  ago  northern  and  central  Illinoiswas 
inhabited  by  twTo  very  powerful  nations  of  Indians,  the  Illinois 
and  the  Miami.  The  Miami  occupied  the  northern  part  of  the 
present  state  of  Illinois  and  a  part  of  Wisconsin  and  their  chief 
town  was  where  the  city  of  Chicago  now  stands.  The  Illinois 
,  occupied  the  country  bordering  upon  the  Illinois  river  and  all 
the  country  between  that  and  the  Mississippi.  The  principal 
tribes  of  the  Illinois  were  the  Muscootens  and  their  town  was 
upon  the  present  site  of  Beardstown,  on  the  eastern  bank  of 
the  river  at  the  foot  of  Muscooten  Bay  and  was  called  by  the 
French,  Mound  Village.  The  Peorias,  another  tribe  of  the 
Illinois,  occupied  the  country  between  the  rivers,  having  their 
town  on  the  west  bank  of  the  Illinois  river,  four  miles  above 
the  present  town  of  Frederick. 

The  present  site  of  Beardstown  was  at  that  time  an  island 

surrounded  on  the  north,  east  and  south  by  almost  impassable 

swamps  containing  dangerous  quick  sands  and  quaking  bogs, 

which  could  be  crossed  only  in  canoes,  and  on  the  west  by  the 

3   Illinois  river. 

The  Indian  town  of  the  Muscooten 's  was  a  beautiful  place. 

It  was  built  upon  a  series  of  wonderful  mounds,  which  had  been 

-  built  so  long  ago  that  no  one  remembered  anything  about  theiA 

Nh*  the  people  who  built  them.       These  mounds  were  covered 

with  grass  and  partially  shaded  by  tall  trees,  but  so  placed  as 

Oc  not  to  obstruct  the  view  of  the  whole  town  from  the  river.    The 

>  island  had  been  selected  not  onlv  on  account  of  its  natural  beau- 

J^  ty,  but  for  its  easy  defense  and  safety  from  the  enemies.      The 

t^vo  villages  of  the  Muscootens  and  Peorias  stood  in  plain  sight 

1)  of  each  other,  the  broad  river  forming  a  straight  sheet  of  water 


4  HISTORY    OF    BEARDSTOWN 

between,  while  north  of  Mound  Village  and  directly  in  front  of 
the  Peorias  was  Muscooten  Bay,  separated  from  the  river  by  a 
narrow  peninsula  which  we  now  call  Wood  Slough. 

Back  of  the  swamp  which  protected  the  rear  of  the  town, 
was  a  wide  belt  of  rich  prairie  bottom  land  and  beyond  six  miles 
rose  the  Sangamon  bluffs  between  which  and  the  island  in  the 
day  time  all  approaching  foes  could  be  seen.  This  island  town 
was  a  favorite  resting  place  for  the  tired  voyageurs  and  devout 
missionaries;  a  large  cross  was  erected  here  and  friendly  rela- 
tions established  between  the  Indians  and  white  men.  But  this 
friendly  feeling  on  the  part  of  the  French  toward  the  Illinois 
Indians  excited  the  jealousies  of  the  Miami  and  they  determin- 
ed to  have  revenge.  In  vain  did  the  missionaries  try  to  pre- 
vent war.  The  Miami  invaded  the  country  of  the  Illinois,  and 
took  some  prisoners.  At  this  time  the  brave  chevalier  LaSalle, 
who  had  built  a  fort  where  the  present  city  of  Peoria  now 
stands,  made  a  journey  alone  down  the  river  to  the  Muscooten 
village  but  his  effort  amounted  to  nothing  and  the  war  con- 
tinued. Moreover,  the  Muscootens  thought  La  Salle  was  act- 
ing as  a  spy  for  the  Iroquois  Indians  at  that  time  the  most  pow- 
erful Indian  tribe  on  the  North  American  continent,  who  had 
formed  an  alliance  with  the  Miami  for  the  purpose  of  extermi- 
nating them.  Many  battles  were  fought  between  these  hostile 
nations,  but  because  of  the  greater  number  of  Iroquois  and  Mia- 
mis  the  Illinois  were  defeated  and  beseiged  in  their  towns. 

The  Muscootens  were  at  last  beseiged  in  their  island  town, 
and  after  many  fierce  battles  were  finally  defeated.  It  was 
savage  fighting  savage,  and  death  was  dealt  with  relentless 
vigor  on  either  side.  The  Muscootens  began  to  fall  back  to- 
ward the  river  and  their  enemies,  with  yells  of  victory,  rushed 
upon  them  with  tomahawks  and  scalping  knives  and  ended  the 
battle.  A  few  of  the  Muscootens  swam  the  river  and  conceal- 
ed themselves  in  the  high  swampy  grass.  A  small  number  fled 
in  canoes  to  the  village  of  the  Peorias.  The  women  and  child- 
ren were  taken  prisoners. 

The  victorious  Iroquois  buried  their  dead  in  the  great 
mound  on  the  bank  of  the  river  with  their  bows  and  arrows  and 
tomahawks  together  with  the  silver  and  flint  crosses  of  the  mis- 
sionaries. After  these  ceremonies  were  over  the  Iroquois  re- 
turned to  their  own  country.  The  Miamis  with  their  prison- 
ers and  sick  and  dying  encamped  upon  the  present  site  of 
Chandlerville. 

Some  years  later  Mound  Island  was  taken  possession  of  by 
the  Kickapoo  Indians  upon  which  they  built  their  village, 
known  as  Kickapoo  Town,  although  still  remembered  by  the 
French  as  "Beautiful  Mound  Village."      This  became  a  fa- 


AND   CASS    COUNTY  5 

vorite  trading  post  and  missionary  station,  and  continued  in 
possession  of  the  Kickapoos  until  its  settlement  by  Thomas 
Beard  in  1820. 

About  1830  the  great  mound  at  Beardstown  began  to  be 
dug  into  by  spade  and  pick-axe  of  the  white  man.  The  decay- 
ing bones  of  the  Indian  Warriors  as  they  lay  in  their  lovely  and 
quiet  resting  places  with  their  bows  and  arrows,  the  silver  and 
flint  crosses  of  the  missionaries,  even  the  beautiful  mound  it- 
self which  should  have  been  preserved  was  all  shoveled  away 
and  nothing  now  is  left  of  this  once  beautiful  mound. 

During  the  early  part  of  the  nineteenth  century  immigra- 
tion was  greatly  retarded  to  this  part  of  the  country  because  of 
severe  earthquakes.  From  1811  to  1813  they  were  as  severe  as 
ever  happened  on  this  continent  and  the  few  settlers  here  were 
in  constant  dread  from  these  disturbances.  Then  too  the 
Kickapoo  Indians,  fierce  and  powerful  as  they  were,  while 
friendly  to  the  French,  had  no  use  for  the  Americans  and  dis- 
couraged their  settlement  in  this  part  of  the  country.  Finally, 
negotiations  were  entered  into  with  the  Kickapoos  and  on  the 
30th  of  July  1819  the  tribe  ceded  to  the  United  States  an  im- 
mense tract  of  land  known  as  the  Sangamon  County. 


CHAPTER  II 


The  first  permanent  white  settlement  within  the  present 
limits  of  the  city  of  Beardstown  was  made  by  Thomas  Beard, 
who  came  here  on  horse  back  when  it  was  a  Kickapoo  town  in 
1819.  Mr.  Beard  built  his  cabin  upon  the  steep  Dank  of  the 
river  at  the  present  foot  of  State  street  and  began  business  as 
a  trader  among  the  Indians.  He  was  rather  unfortunate  in  se- 
lecting the  site  for  his  cabin,  because  the  next  spring  he  found 
that  he  had  built  it  upon  a  den  of  snakes  and  (the  next  spring) 
when  the  weather  was  warm  many  thousands  of  them  of  all 
kinds  came  out  upon  the  bank  by  his  cabin.  Soon  after  he 
built  a  two  story  brick  hotel  where  our  post  office  now  stands 
and  this  old  hotel  stood  at  the  foot  of  State  street  for  85  years. 
Many  of  the  early  immigrants  going  and  coming  across  the 
river  stopped  at  this  hotel. 

Mr.  Beard  was  the  father  of  our  town.  He  came  here  as  a 
young  man  twenty-four  years  old  on  horse  back  from  the  state 
of  Ohio.  His  parents  did  not  want  him  to  go  so  far  from 
home  but  he  had  the  pioneer  instinct  in  him  and  wanted  to  seek- 
new  and  strange  lands,  so  he  came  west  as  far  as  Alton  and 
Edwardsville  at  first,  and  while  in  the  latter  place  he  made  the 


( 

0  HISTORY    OF    BEARDSTOWN 

acquaintance  of  a  young  man  by  the  name  of  Enoch  C.  March. 
They  soon  formed  a  strong  friendship  for  each  other  and  came 
to  Beardstown  together.  The  first  land  entry  was  made  by 
Thomas  Beard  and  Enoch  C.  March  jointly.  Mr.  Beard's  cab- 
in marked  the  western  most  out-post  of  civilization  at  this 
point.  He  thought  it  such  a  wonderful  country  and  wrote  most 
alluring  descriptions  of  it  home  to  his  parents  and  so  interest- 
ed did  they  all  become  that  the  whole  Beard  family  moved  to 
Beardstown,  and  now  most  of  them  lie  buried  in  the  Beard  cem- 
etery at  the  top  of  Seamon  Hill  just  five  miles  out  of  Beards- 
town on  the  Chandlerville  road. 

The  first  licensed  ferry  across  the  river  was  granted  Mr. 
Beard  by  the  County  Commissioners  of  Schuyler  County,  upon 
his  paying  six  dollars  into  the  treasury  of  that  county.  There 
was  no  road  from  Beardstown  through  Schuyler  County  in  that 
day.  Mr.  Beard  managed  the  ferry  himself  using  a  pole  to 
propel  it.  It  was  so  small  that  only  one  wagon  and  a  single 
team  of  horses  could  be  accommodated  at  one  time  and  very 
little  room  was  left  for  passengers. 

On  the  28th  day  of  October,  1827,  Beard  and  March  made 
another  land  entry  which  extended  their  river  front  down 
low  the  great  mound.  The  original  town  of  Beardstown  con- 
sisted of  23  blocks  fronting  the  river,  three  blocks  deep,  reach- 
ing from  Clay  to  Jackson  streets,  of  which  the  block  between 
the  park  and  Main  street  and  State  and  Washington  was  the 
central  one.  The  town  was  laid  out  and  platted  by  Thomas 
Beard  and  Enoch  March,  and  was  named  after  Mr.  Beard. 

Now  at  this  time  there  was  not  a  bushel  of  corn  to  be  had 
in  central  Illinois.  The  settlers  lived  on  venison,  blackberries 
and  milk.  The  men  had  to  go  down  into  the  southern  part  of 
the  state  to  buy  corn.  The  southern  part  of  our  state  was 
called  Egypt;  it  was  older  and  longer  settled  and  they  gather- 
ed corn  down  there  like  the  sands  of  the  sea,  and  so  the  immi- 
grants went  down  there  to  buy  corn  as  the  children  of  Isreal  in 
their  want  went  to  Egypt  to  buy  and  bring  forth  from  thence 
corn  that  they  might  live. 

Money  was  very  scarce  in  those  days  and  often  the  early 
settlers  would  gather  a  lot  of  bee's  wax  and  loading  it  in  canoes 
would  take  it  to  St.  Louis  and  sell  it  to  raise  money  with  which 
to  buy  their  land. 

The  winter  of  1830  was  a  remarkable  one  and  will  always 
be  remembered  by  old  settlers  as  the  most  terrible  for  suffer- 
ing within  their  memories.  The  snow  fell  at  first  about  30 
inches  deep  then  the  weather  settled  and  another  snow  fell  and 
another,  until  it  was  from  four  to  six  feet  deep.  In  drifts  it 
was  much  deeper.      Fences  were  covered  and  lanes  filled  up. 


\ 


AND   CASS    COUNTY 


There  was  much  suffering  everywhere.  Stock  died  for  want 
of  food.  Deer  stood  in  their  tracks  and  died.  Prairie  chick- 
ens and  quails  having  alighted  in  the  snow  could  not  get  out. 
Man  was  the  only  animal  that  could  walk,  and  game  alone  01 
the  food  kind  was  all  he  had  in  plenty.  That  could  be  had 
+'or  the  picking  it  up  from  the  snow  for  it  was  helpless.  _  Bui 
finally  even  game  became  so  poor  from  starvation  that  it  was 
unfit  for  food.  The  snow  stayed  on  the  ground  nearly  all 
winter  until  March  and  people  ran  short  of  everything  parti- 
cularly fuel.  Thomas  Beard  remembering  a  widow  with  a 
small  family  living  at  the  bluffs,  generously  walked  out  there 
and  found  her  and  her  family  on  the  verge  of  starvation  and 
hovering  over  the  last  remnants  of  a  fire,  she  having  used  all 
of  her  fuel.  Mr.  Beard  tore  up  some  fences  and  chopped  a 
large  pile  of  wood  for  her  and  afterwards  carried  provisions  to 
her  through  the  snow  on  foot,  a  distance  of  seven  miles,  as  a 
horse  could  not  travel. 

In  1831  the  Indians  became  very  troublesome  and  threaten- 
ed to  over-run  the  white  population.  They  were  led  by  Black 
Hawk  their  chief  and  prophet  who  pretended  to  have  powei 
given  him  by  the  great  spirit  to  destroy  the  pale  faces.  He  at- 
tacked the  whites  with  so  much  vigor  that  Governor  John  Rey- 
nolds who  was  governor  of  the  state  at  that  time,  issued  a  call 
to  arms.  He  asked  for  seven  hundred  able-bodied  men,  who 
were  willing  to  fight  the  Indians,  to  come  to  Beardstown  on 
the  tenth  day  of  June  1831.  On  that  day  three  times  that  num- 
ber came  to  Beardstown.  They  were  at  once  organized  and 
Enoch  C.  March  was  made  quartermaster.  March  was  equal 
to  the  occasion;  he  soon  furnished  the  necessary  supplies  but 
the  governor  was  at  a  loss  to  know  how  to  arm  those  who  had 
not  brought  rifles.  However  a  man  by  the  name  of  Francis 
Arenz,  one  of  Mr.  Beard's  good  friends  came  to  their  aid.  He 
was  a  merchant  here  and  a  short  time  before  had  purchased 
Mime  light  brass  barrelled  fowling  pieces,  that  had  been  manu- 
factured in  the  east  for  a  South  American  government,  and  not 
answering  the  purpose  for  which  they  were  made,  they  were 
shipped  west  to  shoot  birds  with.  These  served  the  purpose  very 
well  and  the  troops  were  encamped  above  the  town  where  Mr. 
R.  B.  Glenn's  Ice  and  Fuel  Plant  now  stands.  Some  of  the 
best  men  in  this  vicinity  assembled  here  and  we  are  told  that 
Abraham  Lincoln  was  among  them  serving  as  a  privateer. 

There  is  one  instance  connected  with  the  Black  Hawk  War 
which  is  interesting  because  it  relates  to  the  settling  of  Chand- 
lerville. 

David  Ephler,  a  resident  of  the  North  Prairie  district  came 
to  Beardstown  to  purchase  two  barrels  of  salt.     He  drove  two 


8  HISTORY    OF    BEARDSTOWN 

beautiful  horses  well  harnessed  and  a  good  wagon,  altogether 
just  what  Colonel  March  wanted  for  war  material.  He  ac- 
cordingly seized  them  under  the  law  that  might  makes  right, 
and  took  them  from  Mr.  Ephler.  But  Mr.  Ephler  refused  to 
give  them  up  and  with  his  face  livid  with  anger  declared  that 
he  would  defend  them  with  his  life  and  that  the  Colonel  with 
his  troops  would  have  to  walk  over  his  dead  body  before  he 
would  give  up  his  best  team,  at  least  until  he  was  paid  their 
value.  Colonel  March  then  offered  to  pay  what  two  disin- 
terested men  should  sav  they  were  worth.  This  was  agreed 
to.  There  were  then  stopping  in  Beardstown  two  comparative 
strangers,  Dr.  Charles  Chandler  and  a  man  named  Crawford. 
To  them  the  cause  was  referred.  They  having  come  from  the 
east  were  wholly  in  ignorance  with  the  low  prices  of  this  new 
country  and  priced  the  team  at  eastern  values,  which  Colonel 
March  felt  in  honor  bound  to  abide  by  and  the  consequence  was 
Mr.  Ephler  got  $350  for  his  team,  which  was  a  large  price  then. 
This  incident  recalls  the  fact  of  how  Dr.  Chandler  came  here.  He 
left  Rhode  Island  where  he  had  a  good  practice  in  his  profes- 
sion and  a  new  house  which  he  had  just  built,  and  started  west 
with  his  family  with  the  intention  of  settling  at  Fort  Clr- 
where  Peoria  now  stands.  When  the  steamer  upon  which  he 
came  up  the  Illinois  river  arrived  at  Beardstown  the  hostile  at- 
titude of  the  Indians  in  the  vicinity  and  the  preparation  for  a 
general  Indian  war  induced  the  captain  to  discharge  his  pas- 
sengers and  freight  at  Beardstown,  thinking  it  unsafe  to  go 
any  farther  north  with  his  boat.  While  here  Dr.  Chandlei 
took  a  ride  up  the  Sangamon  bottom  with  Thomas  Beard  and 
he  was  so  well  pleased  with  that  part  where  Chandlerville  now 
stands  that  he  determined  to  go  no  farther  north  and  settle 
there.  This  was  in  the  spring  of  1832.  The  bottom  of  the 
bluffs  had  burned  over  and  new  fresh  green  grass  and  beauti- 
ful flowers  had  sprung  up  and  the  trees  and  vines  and  shrub- 
bery were  dressed  in  their  most  inviting  foliage,  indeed  it  was 
a  most  beautiful  sight.  Later  he  took  his  wife  and  little 
daughter  to  see  their  future  home  and  they  too  were  delighted 
with  it.  So  the  doctor  entered  sixty  acres  of  land  that  spring 
and  although  it  was  late  in  the  spring  he  raised  a  crop  of 
buck-wheat  upon  it.  There  was  a  universal  custom  among  the 
settlers  at  that  time,  that  every  man  should  be  entitled  to  eighty 
acres  of  land  on  each  side  of  the  land  already  entered  by  him. 
He  could  have  the  right  to  this  land  until  he  was  able  to  enter 
it  at  $1.25  per  acre  from  the  government,  and  it  was  considered 
stealing  for  another  man  to  claim  it. 

Shortly  after  this  a  man  named  English  came  to  this  vici- 
nity to  settle.    He  too  was  much  pleased  with  the  prospect  of 


AND    CASS    COUNTY  9 

living  in  this  new  country.  The  Doctor  assisted  and  befriend- 
ed him  all  he  could  offering-  to  give  up  his  claim  to  one-half  of 
the  eighty  acres  tract  next  to  the  land  that  English  wanted  and 
let  him  entei  it.  English  told  the  Doctor  that  he  was  going  to 
Springfield  and  enter  the  whole  tract,  that  he  did  not  care  for 
the  customs  of  the  country,  that  he  was  going  to  have  it  right 
or  wrong,  and  started  for  Springfield.  All  the  Doctor's  ef- 
forts to  keep  him  from  doing  it  availed  nothing.  The  Doctor 
went  to 'his  cabin  and  looked  over  his  little  pile  of  money  and 
found  that  he  had  fifty  dollars.  He  thought  that  his  neighbor 
might  have  some  money  and  so  lie  saddled  his  best  horse.  He 
tode  to  this  man's  house  and  borrowed  fifty  dollars  more.  Thus 
provided,  he  took  a  different  route  through  the  woods  and 
prairies  from  that  chose  by  English  and  putting  his  horse  to 
his  best  speed  started  for  the  land  office. 

When  about  ten  miles  from  Springfield,  Dr.  Chandler  over 
took  two  young  men  on  horseback  and  as  his  horse  was  foam- 
ing with  perspiration  and  really  tired  out  he  rode  slowly  along 
with  the  young  men,  as  well  to  rest  his  horse  as  to  relate  to  them 
the  cause  of  his  haste.  When  he  told  them  of  the  meanness 
of  the  man,  one  of  the  young  men  was  so  indignant  that  he  of- 
fered the  Doctor  his  own  fresh  horse  that  he  might  make  all 
baste  and  thwart  the  efforts  of  English,  while  the  young  man 
would  ride  the  Doctor's  horse  slowly  into  town.  But  the  Doct- 
or rode  his  own  horse,  got  safely  to  the  land  office  and  entered 
the  land  before  English  got  there.  Sometime  after  that  he 
wanted  to  have  his  land  surveyed  and  the  county  surveyor  liv- 
ed at  Jacksonville  but  a  neighbor  told  him  that  there  was  a  bet- 
ter surveyor  living  at  Salem  in  Sangamon  County  named  Abra- 
ham Lincoln.  So  the  Doctor  sent  for  him  and  when  he  came 
with  his  implements  to  do  the  surveying  the  doctor  found  that 
Abraham  Lincoln,  the  surveyor,  was  the  same  young  man  that 
1  ad  so  kindly  offered  to  lend  him  his  horse  so  that  he  might 
defeat  the  rascally  man  named  English. 

Dr.  Chandler  was  the  first  physician  in  Illinois  to  adopt 
quinine  in  his  practice  as  a  remedy.  The  first  to  introduce  the 
practice  of  the  infliction  of  bodily  pain  as  a  remedy  for  an  over- 
dose of  Opium,  and  the  first  who  opposed  bleeding  as  a  remedy. 
When  he  went  to  Sangamon  bottom  he  was  called  into  practice 
before  he  could  build  a  stable  ami  for  weeks  when  at  home  tied 
Ids  horse  to  a  tree  and  milled  grass  to  feed  him  for  he  had  no 
scythe  to  cut  it  with.  He  built  the  first  frame  house  within  the 
present  limits  of  this  countv.  It  was  ten  by  twelve  feet,  one 
story  and  shingled  with  split  and  shaved  oak  shingles,  which 
made  a  good  roof  for  twenty-five  years — a  fact  worthy  of  no- 
tice.     He  built  it  for  a  drug  store  and  office,  and  up  to  1876 


10  HISTORY    OF    BEARDSTOWN 

it  was  still  in  existence.  In  1836  he  built  a  large  residence. 
His  reason  for  building  so  large  a  house  at  that  time  was  that 
it  was  exactly  like  the  one  he  had  built  and  left  in  Rhode  Island 
and  as  his  family  had  sacrificed  so  much  in  leaving  their  com- 
fortable home  for  the  wilds  of  the  west,  he  wished  to  make  a 
home  as  near  like  their  former  one  as  possiblp 


CHAPTER  III 


In  1833  when  Andrew  Jackson  was  president  of  our  coun- 
try and  John  Reynolds  governor  of  our  state  Beardstown  was  a 
flourishing  town  and  port  on  the  Illinois  river.  The  reason 
for  this  was  because  of  its  transportation  facilities.  It  was  a 
great  grain  and  provision  market.  Most  towns  from  the  in- 
terior of  the  state  got  their  supply  of  goods  here  and  from  here 
they  shipped  their  supplies  to  market. 

Chicago  and  Springfield  were  just  small  settlements.  But 
Beardstown  really  won  its  public  attention  chiefly  through  the 
busy  scenes  at  its  hog-pens  and  slaughter  houses  for  this  was 
its  chief  industry.  As  many  as  seven  firms  were  located  here 
at  one  time,  Beardstown  possessed  the  most  extensive  pork 
trade  of  any  city  west  of  Cincinnati.  '  The  average  number  of 
hogs  slaughtered  was  from  fifty  to  sixty  thousand  every  spring. 

For  pork-growing  few  regions  were  so  favorable  as  the 
Illinois  prairies.  The  hogs  were  allowed  to  run  at  large  and 
they  multiplied  very  rapidly  and  it  was  often  a  difficult  matter 
to  decide  to  whom  a  lot  of  grunting  porkers  owed  allegiance. 
There  was  no  hog  cholera  at  that  time  or  other  disease  until 
the  spring  of  1859.  Hogs  were  a  good  means  of  converting 
the  corn  of  the  state  into  good  marketable  form.  In  those  early 
days  Beardstown  was  often  called  Porkopolis. 

Thus  in  the  early  days  Beardstown  was  the  commercial 
center  for  miles  around.  Great  wharfs  lined  the  river  banks. 
Huge  side-wheelers  brought  merchandise  from  New  Orleans 
or  St.  Louis  and  on  the  river  bank  were  seen  boxes,  barrels, 
and  crates. 

These  goods  were  hauled  from  Beardstown  by  six  or  eight 
spans  of  long  horned  sturdy  oxen  or  steers  attached  to  huge 
four  wheeled  wagons,  high  in  the  front  and  rear  with  concave 
sides,  to  towns  in  the  state  where  merchandise  and  food  were 
needed. 

A  plank  road  was  built  from  the  sand  ridge  to  the  bluffs 
andsometimes  caravans  of  wagons  would  stretch  in  an  unbrok- 
en line  from  here  to  the  bluffs. 


AND   CASS    COUNTY  11 

But  the  coming  of  the  railroad  in  1859  changed  the  busi- 
ness life  of  Beardstown  somewhat.  More  of  the  hogs  were 
taken  to  Chicago  to  be  slaughtered  and  the  river  was  not  used 
so  much  for  transportation.  So  for  some  years  Beardstown 
was  at  a  great  disadvantage  and  desperate  efforts  were  made 
by  its  citizens  to  secure  railroad  facilities.  Large  sums  were 
subscribed  by  the  corporation  and  large  amounts  were  subscrib 
ed  by  private  citizens  and  finally  the  Chicago,  Burlington  and 
Quincy,  and  The  Baltimore  and  Ohio  railroads  came  through 
Beardstown. 

The  first  newspaper  north  of  Jacksonville  and  south  of 
Chicago  was  the  Beardstown  Chronicle  and  Illinois  Military 
Bounty  Land  Advertiser.  Francis  Arenz  was  editor  of  this 
newspaper  and  J.  B.  Fulks  publisher.  This  was  the  only  news 
paper  published  here  until  1845. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  some  of  the  prices  of  staples  pub- 
lished in  an  1833  edition  of  this  newspaper.  Flour,  imported, 
per  barrel  $4.25,  wheat,  in  90  days  per  bushel,  $.50.  Wheat  cash, 
$.45.  Salt,  per  bushel,  $.75.  Corn,  per  bushel  $.12  to  $.16.  Beans, 
per  bushel  $.50.  Whiskey,  per  gallon  $.48.  Pork,  per  pound 
$.021/>.  Butter,  per  pound  $.10.  Beef  per  pound  $.02V-.  Cigars 
per  1000  one  dollar.      Cigars  per  box,  the  best,  $1.00. 

The  first  church  in  Beardstown  was  erected  in  1841  at  the 
corner  of  Fifth  and  Washington  Streets  and  was  called  "The 
German  Evangelical  Church  at  Beardstown." 

Everybody  attended  this  one  church  no  matter  to  what 
church  thev  belonged  before.  It  is  said  that  every  Sunday  it  was 
crowded,  people  coming  from  far  and  near  to  worship.  During 
the  week  days  it  was  used  as  a  school. 

The  second  church  in  Beardstown  was  erected  at  the  cor- 
ner of  Third  and  Washington  Streets  in  1845  as  a  Presbvterian 
Church,  but  in  February  1850  it  became  the  First  Congregation- 
w\  Church  of  Beardstown. 

The  Methodist  Church  was  organized  in  Beardstown  at  the 
early  day  of  1837  and  a  church  was  built  on  the  corner  of  Fifth 
and  State  Street  in  1849,  but  before  it  was  dedicated  to  divine 
worship,  it  was  used  as  a  hospital  during  the  cholera  epidemic 
of  that  year. 

The  first  school  house  in  Beardstown  was  built  in  1834 
on  the  site  where  the  residence  of  Dr.  W.  D.  Pence  now  stands. 
It  was  built  by  Mr.  Beard  and  Mr.  Arenz  and  presented  by  them 
to  the  town. 

Thomas  Beard  did  a  great  deal  for  Beardstown.  He  pre- 
sented the  Park  to  the  city,  a  spot  that  has  been  made  historic 
by  many  public  meetings  where  such  orators  as  Abraham  Lin- 
coln and  Stephen  A.  Douglas  were  heard. 


LIBRARY  ^ 

university  of  wrnrn 


12  HISTORY    OF    BEARDSTOWN 

But  the  most  noteworthy  gift  was  our  City  Hall  and  the 
.u.ound  upon  which  it  was  built.  This  building  should  be  as 
dear  to  this  city  as  Faneuil  Hall  or  Old  South  Church  is  to  Bos- 
ton or  Independence  Hall,  and  the  Betsy  Ross  house  is  to  Phil- 
a  Iclphia.  Built  in  1844,  it  was  Cass  County's  first  courthouse. 
Here  Abraham  Lincoln  tried  many  cases,  most  notable  among 
them  was  the  Armstrong  murder  case. 

In  1836  Mr.  Beard  purchased  560  acres  of  land  at  the  bluffs 
about  six  miles  northeast  of  town  just  a  little  east  of  the  Brick 
school  house  on  the  Chandlerville  Road.  The  property  is 
now  owned  by  Mrs.  Ella  Seaman.  Here  Mr.  Beard  built  his 
summer  home  of  oak  and  walnut,  a  very  substantial  house. 
Here  he  planted  choice  orchards  and  vineyards,  kept  open 
house  and  enjoyed  life. 

The  first  general  Illinois  Thanksgiving  feast  was  celebrat- 
ed in  the  Beard  homestead. 

"In  November  1845  by  the  recommendation  of  the  gover- 
nor of  the  state,  the  first  day  of  public  Thanksgiving  was  ob- 
served— a  venerable  custom  in  New  England  but  of  recent  ob- 
servance in  the  West  and  South.  On  this  occasion,  invitations 
were  sent  by  Mr.  Beard  to  his  friends  and  kindred  to  come  and 
enjoy  his  hospitality.  He  had  been  wont  to  celebrate  New 
Years  Day  with  similar  festivities.  But  partly  out  of  respect 
to  executive  authority  and  partly  to  kindred,  who  had  so  re- 
cently immigrated  he  had  chosen  this  day  to  honor  the  former 
and  welcome  the  latter.  People  came  from  all  about  in  great 
numbers,  but  religious  exercises,  unlike  the  old  Puritan  Thanks- 
giving were  lacking.  Probably  not  a  minister  in  the  county 
had  evv.-  conducted  exercises  on  such  an  occasion.  But  it  was 
a  wonderful  feast.  Turkey,  everything  that  goes  to  make 
Tl  m  ksgiving  a  happy  day  was  to  be  had  in  plenty.  Eighty 
people,  young  and  old  sat  down  to  eat  together.  Mr.  Beard  at 
the  head  of  the  table  had  Thanks  offered  and  then  bid  his 
friends  welcome  to  the  feast.  Every  one  was  happy,  old 
friendships  were  renewed,  new  ones  made.  Mr.  Beard  enter- 
tained his  friends  with  stories  of  his  early  days  in  Beardstown. 
He  told  of  his  early  struggles  and  his  hopes  and  desires  for  the 
future  of  Beardstown. 

Four  years  later  in  1849  Mr.  Beard  was  taken  ill  with  ty- 
phus fever  and  died  at  the  age  of  55  years.  Friends  came 
from  all  over  the  county  to  attend  his  funeral.  The  Honor- 
able Francis  Arenz,  a  life  long  friend  of  Mr.  Beard 's  performed 
the  funeral  rites.  He  spoke  of  the  many  years  of  intimacy 
they  had  enjoyed  as  friends  how  Mr.  Beard  had  always  helped 
the  unfortunate;  how  no  new  settler  had  ever  applied  to  him 
for  help  and  advice  in  vain;  that  his  character,  through  an  ev- 


AND   CASS    COUNTY  13 

entful  life  was  always  above  reproach;  that  he  never  took  ad- 
vantage of  any  one  in  a  business  transaction;  that  he  was  a 
man  of  good  judgment,  kindly,  friendly,  a  worthy  pioneer  and 
founder  of  our  citv  of  Beardstown. 


CHAPTER  IV 


The  Illinois  river  has  always  meant  so  much  to  the  life  and 
industry  of  Beardstown  that  our  history  of  Beardstown  would 
not  be  complete  without  something  written  about  it.  It  has 
already  been  stated  that  the  Illinois  river  was  first  navigated 
by  white  men  in  1640,  twenty  years  after  the  settlement  of 
Plymouth  Colony. 

In  1673  Marquette  and  Joliet  with  five  followers  crossed 
the  Wisconsin  in  canoes  to  the  Mississippi  river.  They  paddled 
down  that  stream  and  up  the  Illinois  to  Lake  Michigan,  the 
point  of  their  departure,  the  entire  route  being  at  that  time  and 
for  one  hundred  years  later  navigable  for  canoes  and  a  larger 
boat  called  by  the  French  "  pirogue. ':  The  route  was  from 
Green  Bay,  and  the  Wisconsin,  Mississippi,  Illinois,  Kankakee 
and  St.  Joseph  rivers.  There  was  another  navigable  connec- 
tion during  the  whole  of  that  period  between  the  Illinois  and 
Lake  Michigan,  by  means  of  the  Des  Plains  and  Chicago  rivers, 
which  some  of  our  very  oldest  settlers  have  traveled  in  pirogues 
all  the  way. 

Then  later  we  know  how  La  Salle  and  his  followers  traveled 
up  and  down  the  Illinois.  Every  year  more  people  navigated 
this  river,  until  in  1750  forty  vessels  from  the  Illinois  river 
landed  at  New  Orleans  loaded  with  every  kind  of  commoditv. 
From  this  time  on,  for  many  years  the  principal  part  of  the  pro- 
duce received  at  Xew  Orleans  was  shipped  by  way  of  the  Illinois 
river. 

When  St.  Louis  was  founded  that  gave  a  new  impetus  to 
commerce  on  the  Illinois  river  because  it  was  a  nearer  market. 
In  1725  occurred  the  first  of  the  great  floods  on  the  Illinois  riv- 
er. 1772,  1780,  1786,  1792  were  all  years  of  very  high  water. 
In  1844  occured  the  greatest  flood  on  record  in  this  country  or 
any  country  since  the  days  of  Noah,  so  one  of  the  early  histor- 
ians tells  us.  But  every  river  west  of  the  Alleghenies  and 
north  of  the  gulf  of  Mexico  rose  at  one  time  and  the  channel 
of  the  Mississippi  was  unable  to  pass  out  the  vast  amount  of 
water  which  came  into  it.  Four  hundred  people  and  a  great 
number  of  horses,  cattle,     and  other  stock  lost   their     lives. 


14  HISTORY    OF    BEARDSTOWN 

Beardstown  was  again  an  island  with  ten  feet  of  water  be- 
tween it  and  the  bluffs. 

In  the  1840 's  and  50 's  the  finest  river  boats  in  the  world 
floated  on  the  waters  of  the  Illinois.  They  were  really  float- 
ing palaces  for  travel  upon  the  river  and  canal  exclusively, 
there  being  no  railroad  convenient  for  first  class  travel. 

During  the  high  water  of  1852  and  1856  these  steamboats 
went  entirely  around  Beardstown  without  any  difficutly. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  while  the  river  was  often 
very  high  at  times  it  was  also  extremely  low.      In  1864  fr 
September  1  to  October  13  with  only  two  feet  of  water  in  the 
channel,  navigation  was  suspended. 

But  the  coming  of  the  railroad  changed  all  this  activity  on 
the  river  and  fewer  and  fewer  boats  plied  up  and  down  until 
now  two  or  three  a  week  is  the  average  number. 


CHAPTER  V 


Great  men  visited  our  town  in  the  early  days.  Most 
worthy  pioneers  lived  and  died  here.  But  one  great  man 
America's  greatest  citizen  and  president,  Abraham  Lincoln 
made  many  visits  to  Beardstown. 

He  always  stopped  at  a  tavern  on  the  corner  of  State  and 
Second  Street,  where  the  Salon  Pharmacy  now  stands.  Many 
ot  our  old  residents  knew  and  appreciated  Mr.  Lincoln,  when 
he  came  here  as  early  as  1844,  an  itinerant  lawyer,  gathering 
evidence  for  cases  to  be  tried  in  the  courts  at  Springfield.  He 
was  very  friendly  with  the  people  who  managed  the  tavern 
and  this  story  is  told  of  him,  one  time  when  he  came  in  too  late 
for  dinner. 

He  wanted  to  find  some  way  to  ask  for  his  dinner  without 
embarrassment.  Going  around  to  the  kitchen  door,  and  par- 
tially opening  it,  he  displayed  a  large  white  pebble,  and  asked 
for  an  old  boiling  pot  and  about  a  quart  of  water.  The  re- 
quest was  granted,  but  he  was  asked  what  he  wanted  the  pot 
and  water  for.  Again  showing  his  pebble,  he  said,  ''I  want  to 
make  some  soup,  I  am  hungry."  It  is  needless  to  say  that  he 
was  invited  in  and  served  with  a  good  meal. 

The  bronze  tablet  on  our  city  hall  once  the  Court  House  of 
Cass  County  was  placed  there  by  the  Woman's  Club  of  Beards- 
town in  order  to  commemorate  Lincoln's  association  here  and 
the  event  which  brought  him  in  close  touch  with  our  people. 

This  was  May  7,  1858  when  Mr.  Lincoln  cleared  Duff  Arm- 
strong of  the  charge  of  murder  which  accorded  Lincoln  great 


AND   CASS    COUNTY  15 

er  fame  than  lie  gained  in  any  other  case  he  ever  tried. 

Here  is  the  story  of  the  trial  as  was  told  by  "Bud"  Arm- 
strong, a  resident  of  Ashland,  Illinois,  who  was  a  brother  of  the 
man  defended  by  Lincoln  and  a  boy  of  18  years  at  the  time  of 
the  trial. 

Armstrong  was  the  son  of  a  man  who  had  employed  and 
defended  Lincoln  in  his  youth,  and  the  charge  was  that  he  had 
killed  a  man  who  had  unquestionably  died  from  injuries  re- 
ceived at  a  camp  meeting  riot  where  Armstrong  was  present. 
This  crime  was  committed  in  1857  at  Virgin's  Grove,  three 
miles  from  the  South  of  Salt  Creek.  These  camp  meetings  al- 
ways commenced  in  the  light  of  the  moon  and  lasted  about  a 
month,  and  when  this  crime  was  committed,  the  camp  meeting 
had  been  running  about  three  weeks,  so  it  was  done,  if  done  at 
all,  in  the  dark  of  the  moon.  Near  the  camp  meeting  were 
the  buskers  wagons  or  whiskey  wagons  and  the  men  made  it  a 
business  to  get  drunk.  The  camp  was  in  a  hickory  grove  and 
on  this  particular  night  many  of  the  men  got  to  drinking  and 
fighting.  Press  Metzger  came  from  Petersburg  that  night, 
jumped  off  his  horse  and  talked  and  laughed  with  the  boys. 
He  and  Duff  Armstrong  were  good  friends.  Armstrong  was 
lying  on  a  bench  sobering  up  a  little  when  Metzger  turned  over 
the  bench  and  spit  in  his  face.  They  then  engaged  in  a  fight, 
but  it  was  only  a  tussle  such  as  that  class  of  people  would  in- 
dulge in,  in  those  days.  Another  fellow  by  the  name  of  Jim 
Henry  Norris,  also  had  a  fight  with  this  same  Metzger  that 
same  night.  When  Metzger  died  a  few  days  later  from  in- 
juries received  at  the  camp  meeting,  Armstrong  and  Norris 
were  arrested  for  the  crime  and  taken  to  Havana.  The  peo- 
ple and  the  newspapers  were  simply  furious,  and  if  both  men 
had  not  been  securely  lodged  in  jail,  they  would  probably  have 
been  lynched.  Armstrong's  father  was  dead,  his  mother  old 
and  poor,  and  there  was  no  money  to  engage  a  lawyer.  The 
boy  overwhelmed  by  the  circumstances  under  which  he  was 
placed  fell  into  a  melancholy  condition  bordering  upon  des- 
pair, while  the  widowed  mother,  looking  through  her  tears  saw- 
no  hope  of  earthly  aid. 

At  this  juncture,  Lincoln  hearing  of  the  trouble  in  some 
way  volunteered  for  the  defense  and  was  gladly  accepted.  He 
threw  himself  heart  and  soul  into  the  case,  and  fearing  that 
the  poisoned  condition  of  the  public  mind  was  such  as  to  pre- 
vent the  possibility  of  impanelling  a  fair  jury  in  the  court  hav- 
ing jurisdiction,  he  secured  a  change  of  venue  and  a  postpone- 
ment of  the  trial.  Armstrong  was  brought  to  Beardstown  and 
placed  in  our  city  jail.  James  A.  Dick  was  sheriff  at  that 
time.      The  man,  Norris,  was  tried  in  Havana  and  sentenced  to 


/ 


1ft  HISTORY    OF    BEARDSTOWX 

eight  years  at  Alton,  because  lie  had  killed  a  man  sometime  be- 
fore this  last  trouble,  bill  Lincoln  assured  Armstrong-  that  he 
would  be  freed.  They  tried  to  get  bail  for  him,  but  that  being 
impossible,  he  lay  in  jail  all  winter  until  the  spring  term  of 
c<  nil.  A  fellow  by  the  name  of  Allen  from  Petersburg,  was 
chief  witness  for  the  state,  and  whether  he  was  the  one  who 
really  killed  this  Metzger  (or  as  some  really  thought  he  had  fall- 
en from  his  horse  in  a  drunken  stupor  and  died  from  the  in- 
juries received)  we  do  not  know.  However,  Allen  was  sworn 
in  as  chief  witness  for  the  state.  The  case  was  finally  brought 
for  trial.  The  Armstrong's  had  taken  this  Allen  to  Virginia 
and  had  put  him  away  in  the  old  Virginia  House  so  that  he 
could  not  testify,  but  Lincoln  insisted  on  his  being  brought  in- 
to the  court  room.  Collier,  of  Petersburg,  was  state's  attor- 
ney. He  gave  his  testimony  and  showed,  what  appeared  to 
the  audience,  a  strong  proof  of  murder.  Lincoln  cross-examin- 
ed very  little;  only  looking  up  and  ascertaining  a  few  dates  and 
places.  His  own  witnesses  were  to  show  comparatively  good 
moral  character  for  the  prisoner  previous  to  the  time  of  the 
murder.  Collier  feeling  sure  of  his  case  made  but  a  short  and 
formal  argument.  Then  Lincoln  followed  for  the  defense.  He 
began  calmly,  slowly  and  carefuly.  He  struck  at  the  very 
heart  of  the  state's  evidence,  that  of  the  chief  witness,  Allen. 
He  followed  up  first  one  discrepancy,  then  another  and  then 
another,  finally  he  came  to  that  part  of  the  testimony  of  the 
chief  witness  where  he  had  sworn  postively  that  by  the  light 
of  the  moon  he  had  seen  the  prisoner  deliver  the  fatal  blow  with 
a  sling-shot.  Then  he  asked  a  cousin  of  Armstrong's,  Jake 
Jones,  by  name  to  go  out  and  get  him  an  almanac  at  the  near- 
est store.  Taking  this  almanac,  Lincoln  showed  that  on  the 
night  sworn  to  and  the  hour  sworn  to,  the  moon  had  not 
risen,  proving  that  the  whole  of  this  testimony  was  a  perjury. 
The  audience  was  gradually  moved  and  changed  from  a  feeling 
i  f  hatred  to  that  of  sympathy,  and  so  strong  had  Lincoln  made 
his  case  that  a  verdict  of  "not  guilty"  could  almost  be  read  in 
the  faces  of  the  jury,  but  this  was  not  enough  for  Lincoln. 
Thorough lv  kindled  now  in  his  intensely  slow  but  fiery  wrath 
he  held  up  to  the  view  of  the  audience,  the  court  and  the  jury, 
this  fellow  who  had  attempted  to  swear  away  another's  life,  in 
such  a  horrible  picture  of  guilt  and  shame  that  the  miserable 
fellow  felt  thoroughly  confused  and  dumbfounded  and  fled  from 
the  face  of  the  incensed  lawyer  out  of  the  court  room.  Then  Lin- 
coln appealed  to  the  jury  to  lay  aside  any  personal  prejudice 
and  do  simple  justice.  He  explained  his  own  motive  for  being 
there,  that  of  gratitude  to  the  prisoner's  father  for  kindness 
bestowed  on  him  in  his  youth,  and  he  did  this  in  such  a  touch- 


AND   CASS    COUNTY  17 

ing  way  as  to  bring  tears  to  the  eyes  of  many.  The  jury  went 
out  and  returned  within  a  short  time  with  the  verdict  of  "not 
iiuiltv."  The  bov  was  freed,  his  life  was  saved  and  his  character 
restored,  and  so  ended  in  triumph  a  case  that  few  lawyers  would 
i  f.ve  eared  to  take,  but  Lincoln  was  showing  his  wonderful 
kindness  to  the  widowed  and  fatherless. 


CHAPTER  VI 
CASS  COUNTY 


Cass  County  was  originally  a  part  of  Morgan  County,  but 
in  April  of  1837  a  vote  was  taken  to  divide  the  county  and  form 
a  new  county  to  be  called  Cass,  with  the  county  seat  at  Beards- 
town  until  the  people  should  permanently  locate  the  county  seat 
by  election. 

On  the  14th  day  of  August  1837,  the  county  commissioners 
met  and  organized  Cass  County.  At  the  first  meeting  of  the 
hoard  the  new  county  was  divided  into  six  precincts,  which 
were  named:  Beardstown,  Monroe,  Virginia,  Sugar  Grove, 
Eichmond  and  Bowens. 

When  this  county  was  organized  there  was  not  a  house, 
built  exclusively  for  religious  worship,  in  it  and  not  one  in  all 
Morgan  County  outside  of  Jacksonville.  Phvsicians  were 
scarce,  and  fever  and  ague  quite  common.  Game  was  plenty. 
There  were  wolves  and  once  in  a  while  a  panther  wTas  seen. 
The  wolves  very  seldom  did  violence  to  any  human  being; 
but  when  the  weather  was  stormy  and  cold,  and  the  ground 
frozen,  they  were  so  bold  and  threatening  that  nobody  cared  to 
risk  himself  out  alone  at  night.  It  is  said  that  once  a  man  was 
returning  home  from  town  carrying  a  quarter  of  beef  on  his 
shoulder.  A  gang  of  wolves  attacked  him,  took  the  beef  and 
ate  it  and  it  was  only  because  he  happened  to  be  near  a  cabin 
that  he  himself  was  saved  from  being  devoured. 

There  were  a  few  large  grey  wolves  also,  and  they  were 
much  feared.  This  is  another  story  told  about  a  grey  wolf. 
( me  bright  cold  night,  there  was  a  great  fuss  with  the  dogs  out- 
side a  cabin  door  here  in  Beardstown.  The  man  opened  the 
door  to  see  what  was  happening  and  his  favorite  little  black 
dog  pounced  into  the  cabin,  and  the  largest  grey  wolf  he  had 
ever  seen  was  after  him  and  tried  to  get  in  the  cabin.  The 
door  was  open  and  there  was  no  time  to  get  a  rifle.  So  he 
grabbed  a  stick  of  fire  wood  and  threw  it  at  the  wolf.  The 
wolf  was  driven  away,  but  in  a  short  time  a  loud  noise  was 
heard  over  at  a  neighbors  and  crack  went  a  rifle  and  then  in  a 


18  HISTORY    OF    BEARDSTOWN 

short  time  all  was  still.  It  was  found  the  next  morning  that 
the  wolf  had  been  killed.  He  was  the  largest  wolf  ever  seen 
around  here  and  measured  9  feet,  9  inches  from  his  nose  to 
the  end  of  his  tail. 

In  1836-37,  old  settlers  tell  us  about  what  we  call  a  sudden 
change  in  the  weather.  It  was  the  most  remarkable  of  any 
we  had  ever  seen,  heard  or  read  of.  On  a  Saturday  morning- 
there  was  snow  on  the  ground.  The  following  Sunday  was  a 
very  warm  day,  and  Monday,  until  about  four  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon  was  still  warmer,  and  on  both  of  these  davs  there 
was  considerable  rain.  The  snow  had  melted  to  slush  and 
water,  which  was  standing  in  ponds  on  the  level  ground.  At 
that  hour  the  weather  turned  suddenly  very  cold.  In  four 
hours  after  the  change  began  the  slush  and  water  was  frozen 
solid;  and  in  two  hours  from  that  time  the  men  were  hurried 
crossing  the  river  on  ice.  A  vast  amount  of  cattle,  fowls,  and 
game  and  many  persons  were  frozen  to  death.  One  man  who 
was  crossing  the  prairie  on  horseback,  killed  his  horse,  took  out 
the  entrails,  and  crawled  inside  for  protection  and  was  found 
frozen  to  death. 

Money  was  very  scarce  in  the  early  days  of  Cass  County 
and  it  was  hard  for  farmers  owning  good  farms  to  get  money 
to  pay  their  postage.  It  was  not  necessary  then  to  prepay  post- 
age. Domestic  letters  cost  from  5  to  25  cents  a  piece,  accord- 
ing to  the  distance  they  had  come;  and  foreign  letters  were 
still  higher. 

What  was  worse  they  must  all  be  paid  for  in  silver  and  it 
often  happened  that  a  letter  would  lie  in  the  post-office  for 
weeks  before  its  owner  could  get  the  silver  to  redeem  it,  If 
the  farmers  wished  to  get  goods  from  the  store,  they  were  forc- 
ed to  buy  on  credit,  and  pay  in  grain  or  other  produce,  or  take 
butter,  eggs,  poultry,  game,  honey,  wood  or  other  articles,  to 
exchange  for  skin  goods. 

Produce  continually  changed  in  price,  even  in  store  pay. 
Corn  was  known  to  sell  at  6  cents  often  and  farmers  thought  10 
cents  in  cash  was  probably  all  that  corn  ought  to,  or  ever  would 
bring  and  that  farmers  could  get  rich  at  that  price.  Wheat 
was  sold  in  Beardstown  at  35  cents  per  bushel  and  pork  often  at 
1  1-4  cents  per  pound. 

Cass-  County  has  many  fertile  lands  and  has  always  pro- 
spered. But  the  people  had  to  develop  this  wealth.  '  There 
were  just  a  few  farmers  at  first  and  the  little  town  of  Beards- 
town  was  all.  But  now  it  has  many  cultivated  lands  and  beau- 
tiful farm  houses  .  Wheat  and  corn  are  easily  grown.  And 
the  sand-ridges  scattered  along  the  river  bottoms  are  good  to 
grow  melons,  sweet  potatoes,  beans,  etc.     The  towns  of  the 


AND   CASS    COUNTY  19 

comity  are  prosperous.  We  have  the  Illinois  river  for  naviga- 
tion and  several  railroads. 

Cass  Countv  is  bounded  on  the  north  bv  Mason  county,  on 
the  east  bv  Menard  Countv  and  on  the  south  bv  Morgan  and  on 
the  west  by  the  Illinois  river. 

The  surface  of  the  county  is  for  the  most  part  gently  sloop- 
ing.  Some  pretty  big  hills,  like  the  Chandlerville  hill  and 
then  some  broad  flat  prairie  lands. 

The  soil  is  very  productive. 

Different  kinds  of  trees,  oak,  hickory,  elm,  sugar  maple, 
black  and  white  walnut.  Then  in  the  bottom  lands  willow, 
soft  maple,  sycamore,  cotton  wood,  pecan. 

There  is  some  coal  found  in  the  hills. 

The  principal  towns  of  the  county  are  Beardstown,  the 
largest  and  oldest,  Virginia,  Chandlerville,  Ashland,  and  Ar- 
enzville  and  Bluff  Springs. 


CHAPTER  VII 
EARLY   SETTLERS 

I. 

In  1821  the  reputation  of  the  "Sangamo  County"  for 
wonderful  fertility  had  reached  the  states  of  Ohio,  Kentucky 
and  Tennessee.  And  the  fact  too,  that  the  Indians  had  sold  it 
to  the  United  States  government  and  the  settlers  could  have  a 
clear  title  to  it,  caused  a  great  migration  into  this  country. 

The  people  travelled  in  those  days  in  an  enormous  covered 
wagon,  called  a  prairie  schooner.  It  made  no  pretentions  to 
beauty,  but  was  a  most  substantial  wagon.  It  was  construct- 
ed with  four  huge  wheels,  upon  which  rested  a  great  box  and 
this  box  was  really  a  room,  because  there  was  a  frame  work 
over  it  and  that  was  covered  with  white  canvas.  This  great 
wagon  with  four  horses  or  a  team  of  oxen  before  it,  and  the 
driver  in  his  saddle  on  the  near  wheel-horse  jerking  at  a  single 
rein  looked,  at  a  distance  like  a  ship  on  the  ocean,  and  so  was 
called  a  prairie  schooner. 

This  wagon  was  often  the  home  for  a  large  family  for 
many  months,  and  it  held  everything  that  a  family  would  need, 
bedding,  cooking  utensils,  provisions,  ammunition,  tubs  and 
buckets.  Upon  the  sides  of  the  wagon  hung  the  crow-bar,  axes, 
spades,  chisels  and  augurs;  and  underneath  hung  the  kettles, 
tar-buckets,  water  buckets,  and  baskets.  An  extra  big  chain 
was  coiled  around  the  coupling  pole  under  the  wagon  for  use 
in  emergencies  which  frequently  happened. 


20  HISTORY    OF    BEARDSTOWN 

II. 

One  could  never  think  of  a  journey  in  one  of  these  wagons 
as  a  pleasure  trip,  but  pleasant  things  happened  on  these  trips 
too,  though  sometimes  they  met  great  dangers,  hardships  and 
had  hair  breadth  escapes.  Generally  every  member  of  the 
family  would  be  in  robust  health,  sickness  rarelv  afflicting- 
these  early  travellers.  There  were  few  woods  and  bridges  in 
those  days,  and  the  prairies  had  to  be  crossed  on  Indian  trails, 
Hie  rivers  forded  where  there  were  no  ferries,  and  the  creeks 
and  brooks  where  the  banks  were  steep  were  still  more  diffi- 
cult to  cross.  In  such  case  sometimes  a  bridge  was  improvised  or 
a  tree  was  felled  across  it,  the  limbs  removed,  the  wagons  taken 
all  apart  and  each  separate  piece  and  article  of  freight  carried 
by  hand  across  over  the  fallen  tree,  and  set  up  and  loaded  in 
the  other  side.  Sometimes  one  man  would  do  all  this  alone. 
But,  for  convenience  these  immigrants  travelled  in  companies 
and  in  that  way  could  assist  each  other  and  thus  make  the 
journey  much  more  pleasant,  safe  and  expeditious.  These  imi- 
grants  generally  drove  a  few  head  of  cattle  and  horses,  also  a 
coop  of  chickens,  so  that  they  would  have  something  to  start 
life  with  in  the  new  country. 

III. 

It  was  very  hard  for  the  first  settlers  to  live  in.  this  new 
country.  They  had  to  do  without  all  sorts  of  things  we  have 
now,  but  they  managed  to  get  along  and  have  a  pretty  good 
time.  They  did  not  have  friends  or  people  about  them  as  we 
have  now.  The  brave  pioneer  who  boldly  cut  away  from  his 
old  home  and  friends  and  turned  his  face  toward  the  land  of 
the  West,  after  days  and  weeks,  perhaps  months  of  weary 
travelling  over  prairies,  where  there  were  no  roads  finally  set- 
tled upon  a  spot  where  his  future  home  was  to  be.  At  once  lie 
began  to  build  his  little  cabin,  then  break  up  a  small  piece  < 
ground  and  plant  a  little  corn.  Soon  other  people  come  to  this 
same  spot  and  then  a  little  town  is  formed  and  it  grows  into  a 
bigger  and  bigger  place  until  it  is  large  like  Beardstown.  But 
at  first  some  of  our  grandmothers  would  not  see  the  face  of  a 
white  woman  for  six  months,  and  all  the  people  they  saw  were 
Indians. 

For  food  they  had  game  and  corn-bread  with  wild  hono^ 
and  that  was  their  bill-of-fare  every  day  for  many  years.  The 
women  made  all  the  clothing  worn  both  by  the  men  and  women. 
They  used  an  old-fashioned  spinning  wheel  to  make  their  cloth. 
The  men  dressed  deer  skins  out  of  which  they  made  their  pants, 
hunting  shirts  and  moccasins;  they  made  their  shoes  from 
leather  that  they  dressed  at  home,  of  course  this  was  a  pretty 


AND   CASS    COUNTY  21 

rough  shoe,  but  they  needed  good  durable  shoes  in  those  days 
to  travel  about  in  because  they  had  to  walk  through  brush, 
briers,  swamps  and  grass. 

Everything  that  was  not  made  at  home  was  called  a 
"store"  article,  as,  "store"  shoes,  "store"  hat,  and  any  one 
who  could  afford  store  clothes  was  wealthy  indeed.  If  any 
young  man  or  girl  could  buy  some  "store"  clothes  they  were 
just  very  much  dressed  up. 

In  those  early  days  people  got  along  without  nails,  glass, 
sawed  lumber  or  brick  for  the  reason  that  they  could  not  get 
them. 

Their  houses  were  small,  just  one  story  high,  built  of  logs. 
The  cracks  between  the  logs  were  filled  with  sticks  and  cover- 
ed with  clay.  The  doors  were  made  of  boards  fastened  in 
place  with  wooden  pegs  and  hung  with  wooden  hinges.  A 
wooden  latch  raised  by  a  string  fastened  the  door,  the  string 
had  one  end  tied  to  the  latch  and  the  other  passed  through  a 
small  hole  above  it,  and  when  the  door  was  fastened,  one  end 
of  the  latch  string  was  hanging  out.  "The  latch  string  out" 
was  an  invitation  to  come  in,  with  the  early  settler. 

Every  cabin  had  a  wonderful  fire-place  because  beside 
warming  the  cabin,  the  women  did  all  the  cooking  in  these  fire- 
places. They  were  big  6 — 10  feet  in  width  and  on  cold  winter 
nights  they  rolled  in  large  logs,  warming  the  entire  house-hold. 
On  one  side  of  these  old  fireplaces  always  stood  a  huge  kettle, 
filled  with  "blue  dye"  with  which  the  old  ladies  colored  their 
yam  for  weaving.  The  kettle  when  not  in  use  was  generally 
covered  with  an  old  barrel  head  or  something  of  the  kind  and 
used  as  a  seat.  One  old  man  told  how  he  wooed  and  won  his 
bride  seated  on  a  kettle  of  "blue  dye"  by  the  blazing  fire  of 
his  grandfather's  cabin. 

On  the  outside  of  the  cabins  one  would  see  a  number  of 
raccoon  skins  and  deer  skins  stretched  against  the  wall  to  dry 
and  sometimes  the  skin  of  a  wild  cat,  wolf  or  bear.  The  ends 
of  the  logs  sticking  out,  at  each  corner  of  the  cabin,  served  as 
places  to  hang  the  various  utensils  used  on  the  farm,  such  as 
hoes,  rakes,  bridles  and  harness.  The  house  generally  had 
but  one  room  and  two  doors  but  no  windows.  Usually  one 
door  of  the  house  was  left  open,  no  matter  how  cold  the  weather 
was  to  admit  light  and  rarely  both  doors  were  closed  except 
when  the  family  was  about  to  retire  or  rest.  So  accustomed 
were  people  to  open  doors  that  they  left  their  doors  open  long 
after  the  introduction  of  glass  into  the  cabin  for  windows.  It 
is  related  that  on  a  very  cold  day  an  eastern  man  who  was  visit- 
ing a  friend  in  his  log  cabin  proposed  to  close  the  door  to  make 
the  house  warmer.      The  owner  expressed  his  surprise  at  the 


22  HISTORY    OF    BEARDSTOWN 

request.  But  did  not  object  to  trying  it  as  an  experiment. 
Af ter  the  door  had  been  shut  a  few  minutes  he  seemed  much 
pleased  with  the  results  and  said,  ''Well  I  declare  I  believe  it 
does  make  a  difference."  Even  beds  were  more  accommodat- 
ing then  than  now  and  would  hold  many  more  occupants.  There 
was  one  usually  in  two  corners  in  every  log  cabin  and  under 
each  of  these  was  a  trundel  bed  which  pulled  out  at  night  and 
then  there  was  bedding  to  spare  in  most  houses  and  when 
friends  called  and  stayed  all  night,  which  they  usually  did,  a 
field  bed  was  made  that  accommodated  all.  When  meal  time 
came  a  large  amount  of  good  wholesome  food  would  be  sup- 
plied considering  the  few  cooking  utensils  that  were  used.  Ev- 
en in  well-to-do-families  the  articles  for  cooking  consisted  of  a 
Dutch  oven,  in  which  first  the  bread  and  then  the  meat  was 
cooked,  a  coffee  pot,  and  a  kettle  to  cook  vegetables  when  they 
had  any.  But  this  is  all  past.  The  old  land  marks  of  the 
pioneer  have  long  since  disappeared.  We  of  today,  have  for- 
gotten about  the  hardships  and  struggles  of  our  pioneer  fore- 
fathers. Yet,  we  know  that  they  did  conquer  this  great  wild- 
erness with  a  bravery  and  fortitude  that  is  somewhat  difficult 
for  us  of  a  newer  generation  to  understand.  And  we  know  that 
they  made  it  possible  for  us  to  live  in  this  great  and  glorious 
land,  and  we  are  grateful  to  them  for  their  spirit  of  adventure, 
for  their  courage  and  daring  to  open  up  new  lands. 

1 '  Ye  pioneers,  it  is  to  you 
The  debt  of  gratitude  is  due; 
Ye  builded  wiser  than  ye  knew 

The  broad  foundation, 
On  which  our  superstructure  stands; 
Your  strong  right  arms  and  willing  hands, 
Your  earnest  efforts  still  command 

Our  veneration — ' ' 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS-URBANA 

977.3465SCH97H  C001 

HISTORY  OF  BEAROSTOWN  ANO  CASS  COUNTY  B 


3  0112  025391738 


